


A Purr-fect Reunion

by heartpanorama



Series: Cat-Time Stories [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-25
Updated: 2016-07-25
Packaged: 2018-08-19 21:20:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8225113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartpanorama/pseuds/heartpanorama
Summary: Adrien Dupain-Cheng leads a life he only could have dreamed of as a teenager. He loves his wife Marinette and their children Emma and Louis and gets along well with his parents-in-law. But when he gets a call from the guardian Master Fu, Adrien and Marinette have to bring out their alter egos once again. Fourteen years after Ladybug and Chat Noir’s final battle against Hawk Moth, they encounter someone who had disappeared in Adrien’s childhood.





	1. A Purr-fect Reunion - Pt. 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this long fanfiction for a special project with others in the fandom. Thank you to Whitney for searching for inspiration at the beginning and to Maxi for proof-reading this whole thing. It is a future AU, but I think you will notice that after the first paragraph.

“Son, could you please take over my duty at the counter for a while? I have to check on the croissants in the oven,” Tom asked me when I came back from running errands. I nodded and stowed the grocery bags behind the counter, before grabbing my apron and taking my place at the cash register of our bakery. Tom gave me a heartfelt smile and made his way to the kitchen. Fourteen years ago, I would never have imagined to work in a bakery, let alone own part of it. Back then, my father would send me to numerous photoshoots to promote his fashion label. I’m not saying that it wasn’t fun – well, most of the time – but it’s just so different from working in a bakery, which brings a variety of tasks with it. Sabine and Tom are the best parents-in-law I can imagine; they’re very kind and have treated me like their own son, ever since Marinette and I started dating. Finally, I found a family that accepts me for who I am; it was paw-some.

Only a few minutes later, Tom returned with a huge plate full of fresh croissants. The delicious smell of baked goods made me long for these pastries. I felt something move in my shirt pocket; even Plagg must be curious about where that scent came from, even though he still preferred cheese. But a glance at my watch made me realize I was running late. “I’m sorry Tom, I need to get going now. I promised Mari to pick up the kids and I also wanted to stop by at the boutique to talk to her about something; I got an important call earlier,” I told Tom, feline a bit guilty for leaving him alone with all the work in the bakery, while Sabine was busy taking care of the accounting for this month. But he didn’t mind. “It’s alright Adrien, I can handle everything here,” Tom reassured me with an understanding look in his eyes. “Thank you,” I mouthed gratefully before heading out.

* * *

It was a Fur-iday. Of course, there had to be much traffic at this time of day. I noticed myself impatiently drumming on the steering wheel with my fingers. The times of the “Gorilla” driving me around in a limousine were over. It was my choice, as I wanted to lead a life independent from the purr-ivileges I had because of my father’s business. It felt great, too; I would never go back. When I had to stop at a red traffic light again, Plagg stuck his head out of my shirt pocket. “You could at least have brought one of those freshly baked croissants with you,” he scolded me. I just shook my head, motioning to him that it wasn’t the right time to complain about food and he let out an exhausted sigh.

When I finally arrived at the kindergarten, I was twenty minutes late. One of the kindergarten teachers was already waiting at the front door, holding my two children at both her hands. As I got off the car and walked towards them, their faces lit up and Emma called out to me, “Papa! You’re here!” My heart melted at the sight of her grin and Louis waving at me with his tiny paw… err, I mean hand. I love them both with all my heart. Emma resembles her mother a lot; she can also already be quite sassy at the age of five. Louis is still pretty oblivious to most of what happens; after all, he’s only three. I hugged them both and apologized to the kindergarten teacher for being late. “It’s okay, Mr. Dupain-Cheng,” she said, making me feel less guilty. Then I picked Louis up and took Emma by the hand to walk them to the car.

* * *

It took us about ten minutes to arrive at my father’s boutique, where Marinette worked as well. I was glad the traffic wasn’t as crazy as half an hour ago and I didn’t have to entertain the kids too much during the drive. When Louis was about to start whining, Plagg flew over to the backseat and cheered him up. It’s claw-some to see Plagg act as a fatherly figure sometimes and I’m glad he helps me out whenever I need him, even if it’s not about fighting akumas anymore. – At the boutique, we entered through the back door. I might have gotten used to people gasping at my appearance whenever they meet me, knowing I’m the son of a popular fashion designer, but I don’t want to have them gushing over Emma and Louis, too. In the back room of the boutique, Mari was working on some new designs. My father stood only a few meters away, giving instructions to his employees. “Maman!” the kids called in unison. My wife turned at the sound of their squeaky voices, surprised but happy about us stopping by. “How lovely, all of you came by,” she exclaimed, kneeling down and holding her arms wide open for Emma, who was running towards her. I joined the two of them with Louis on my shoulders and slowly put him down for him to hug Mari’s leg a moment later, as soon as she stood up again. She giggled because she could barely move with Louis clinging to her leg. The sight of this made me smile. The three of them bring me so much happiness by just existing. They’re the most purr-fect family I could’ve wished for.

Plagg seemed to have noticed that I was lost in thoughts and shifted slightly in my shirt pocket in order to remind me what I actually came here for. Suddenly, it hit me; I wanted to talk to Mari about a call I received in the morning. I cleared my throat, “Emma, Louis, go say hello to your grandfather over there. I have to discuss something with your mother.” The two of them did as they were told and surprised my father by hugging his legs instead of Mari’s. It was hard not to laugh at his startled reaction. My father tends to uphold a strict appearance, but when it comes to his grandchildren, he usually softens up. Ever since Marinette and I found out that he was Hawk Moth and convinced him that his plan wasn’t the right method to bring my mother back to us, we’re getting along with him better. Of course, our relationship hasn’t become as good as I would’ve wanted it to be, but at least we understand each other’s situations now. We haven’t located Maman yet, but since we don’t have to worry about akuma attacks anymore, Marinette and I have kept on investigating as to where she could be.

* * *

“What’s wrong?” Mari looked at me questioningly. I looked around to make sure no one would overhear our conversation. Aside from Plagg and Tikki, no one else could hear us. “Master Fu called me earlier,” I began and saw Mari’s eyes widen in concern, “he says the peacock Miraculous went missing.” Years ago, my father was reasonable enough to hand the butterfly and the peacock Miraculouses back over to Master Fu, so they wouldn’t land in the wrong hands. It was incredible how I could stay so calm despite the news about the latter one going missing. “Adrien,” Marinette shook me by the shoulder, “this is not a joke, is it?” I slightly shook my head, letting her know I was serious. “But who could have taken it? Who could possibly be able to even know about its existence?” Mari wondered, giving voice to my exact thoughts. There were only two people – aside from my father and Master Fu – who would come into question. But I didn’t want to mention this idea to Marinette without having any proof or even a clue. “Listen Mari,” I began, “I know we planned a date for tonight, but maybe we should go on patrol instead. At least, Alya and Nino are going to take care of the kids.” Being aware of the seriousness of the situation, she agreed to my plan. So I took the children home with me and waited for Mari to return from work in the afternoon.

* * *

The day went by very slowly; at least that was my im-purr-ession. It probably felt so long to me because I was anxious about what was going to happen. Marinette was right: A Miraculous that went missing isn’t something to joke about. After having cooked lunch for the kids and me, the three of us went back to Tom and Sabine’s. While Emma and Louis were playing with their stuffed animals, I helped Sabine with the paperwork. It was about 3 p.m. when we finally went home. Still two more hours to go, until Mari was done with work! I tried to kill time by joining in on Emma and Louis’ games, teasing Plagg with a piece of cake that looked like Swiss cheese, and glancing at my watch way too often. Later, I was cuddling with the kids on the couch and told them stories about the early adventures of Ladybug and Chat Noir. Of course, Mari and I have never told our children the superheroes’ real identities. That would’ve been too dangerous, especially because they’re still too young to understand they’d have to keep it a secret. Aside from my father, no one else from our family knows about Marinette being Ladybug or me being Chat Noir. We didn’t even tell our best friends Alya and Nino about it, which hasn’t been all that easy over the past years. After all, Alya has become a successful journalist in Paris, being known for providing the latest news on Ladybug. And Nino, well, being Alya’s fiancé, he would probably be the first to be told new information Alya found out about. However, Marinette and I don’t want to risk Emma or Louis saying anything about our secret identities to anyone. As for Tikki and Plagg, we don’t see a problem with the kids getting to know them, as long as there was no connection between the kwami and Paris’ famous superheroes. Whenever they mention the kwami, people usually think it is about some TV show or their imaginary friends. That’s safe enough for my wife and me.

* * *

By 5 p.m., Louis had fallen asleep on the couch with Plagg sitting on top of his head, almost dozing off as well, and Emma seemed to have lost interest in the story. Her attention span isn’t that long yet. I carried Louis over to the children’s bedroom, forcing Plagg to wake up and get off Louis’ hair, and told Emma to tidy up the toys that were scattered across the living-room floor. About ten minutes later, I heard the doorbell ring. I was surprised because Alya and Nino said they’d show up at about 5.30 p.m. to babysit Emma and Louis. And Mari usually needed at least twenty minutes to get here from the boutique because of the rush hour. Who could it be then?

Still trying to figure out who it could be, I went into the hallway to open the door. And there she was: A woman in a red spandex suit covered with black dots, reminding me of a ladybug, stood right in front of me, seeming to be in a hurry. She must have noticed the confused look on my face because she started to explain, “Uh, I… I didn’t want to lose more time than necessary, so I chose the fastest way to get here.” This woman never ceased to surprise me. When I found my voice again, I whispered, “Marinette, did anyone see you, for goodness’ sake?” She shook her head slightly to let me know there was nothing to worry about. “You still need to detransform before Alya and Nino arrive,” I reminded her. She was about to follow my advice, when we heard voices coming from around the corner. Alya and Nino arrived here early. How were we going to get out of this situation now? How were we going to explain the reason why Ladybug showed up at my front door, especially with Nino knowing I had a crush on her as a teenager. I threw a worried glance at Ladybug, but the look in her eyes told me she knew how to handle the situation.


	2. A Purr-fect Reunion - Pt. 2

My feeling of relief didn’t hold on for too long though. Right when Alya and Nino turned into our street, I could already hear Alya fur-eaking out. After all these years, she still hasn’t gotten less excited about Ladybug’s appearances in public. The two of them stopped in front of us and Nino gave me a short nod, chuckling silently at his fiancée’s behavior. “Ladybug?! How good to see you again!” Alya couldn’t get a hold of herself. She started asking Ladybug tons of questions: What was she doing here? Was there something going on? Would she agree on an interview next week? After about five minutes that felt like hours to me, I became a bit anxious. What if we came too late and the peacock Miraculous was lost forever? It had already been hours since we knew it was missing and we still hadn’t done anything about it.

Ladybug tried to escape Alya’s claws without being impolite and I could see Nino having a hard time trying not to laugh his head off because of Alya’s excitement. It’s not that he was making fun of her, but rather that he found her fascination with superheroes adorable. Finally, I decided to speak up in order to not lose any more time. “Ahem, maybe we shouldn’t hold up Miss Ladybug for too long,” I said, “She probably has a few things to take care of. And Marinette will be returning from work, too; we need to get going soon.” Alya seemed to have been pulled out of her dream world; “Oh right,” she mumbled when she remembered why she came here in the first place. Ladybug nodded and took the opportunity to leave. “Alright then,” she said and winked at me, “thanks for the information, Mr. Dupain-Cheng.” And with this, she swung out her yo-yo and disappeared on Paris’ roofs… at least that’s what it looked like to our fur-iends. Alya and Nino looked at me questioningly. “Err, she was just asking whether I saw something suspicious… probably heading off to fight some evil…,” I made up to avoid any more risky questions. Cautiously checking if Plagg went to hide somewhere safe, I led my friends into the house and motioned them to a seat on the couch while we waited for Mari.

* * *

Marinette arrived a few moments later in her civilian form, trying to act as if nothing happened. “Ah, I’m sorry Adrien, I tried my best to come home early, but you know your father…,” Mari began, “uh, anyways, are you ready to leave?” Emma, who was done cleaning up her toys, jumped in excitement at the sight of her mother and went to hug her leg again. Nino grinned when he saw Marinette being taken by surprise by our little girl, whereas Alya raised her eyebrows by what her best friend just said. “Girl, you’re not telling me you’re going on a date in your working clothes? You know, I’m not too fuzzy about clothing, but uh… working clothes?” Alya scolded Mari. My wife glanced at me, looking for help. “Sweetheart, why don’t you change clothes, while I get the cheese from the kitchen that we wanted to drop off for my friend on the way to the restaurant?” I jumped into the conversation. Marinette nodded in ap-purr-oval, picked Emma up to put her onto Alya’s lap, and disappeared into the bedroom.

I was glad that Emma took up Alya and Nino’s attention then, so I could head to the kitchen in order to look for Plagg. I had no idea where he was hiding, but my first intention has always been the kitchen whenever he goes missing. But where exactly could he be? I looked into different cupboards, under the table, almost everywhere, but he was nowhere to be found. ‘Great,’ I thought, ‘now how am I going to transform…’ Then it hit me: Of course! I hadn’t looked into the fridge yet and voilà, there he was, sitting on top of the cheesecake Mari had made the day earlier. Over the years, Plagg has grown quite fond of cake and other pastries, actually. After all, this is a family owning a bakery; how could he not? “Ugh, Plagg,” I hissed at him, “is this really necessary?” My kwami blinked at me, unim-purr-essed by my scolding and still munching on a piece of cake. “We need to get going,” I reminded him, picked him up and put him into my shirt pocket. It’s a miracle that kwami didn’t have to fear overweight by eating too much. However, I took one of Emma’s lunchboxes and threw a piece of Camembert into it. On the one hand, I needed an alibi, so Alya and Nino wouldn’t ask me where the cheese was that I was talking about, and on the other hand, I wasn’t sure if Plagg had already had enough cheese to provide the power for a possible fight later.

* * *

Finally having managed to leave the house without looking too suspicious and knowing the kids were safe with Alya and Nino, Mari and I turned around the corner of the street. “That was close,” she said through gritted teeth, “why was I being so silly?” I stopped and grabbed her hand. Startled, she looked at me, probably wondering what I was about to tell her. Her beautiful blue eyes were wide open, her pink lips slightly parted. For a moment, I fur-got what I wanted to say, but leaned in to give her a short, but reassuring kiss. When my lips brushed against hers, I felt how she relaxed a bit. As I pulled away, I saw a dreamy expression on her face. I couldn’t help but grin and tease her about it, “What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue, my Lady?” This remark made her return to reality and she gave me an irritated look. She was about to turn away, but I put my hand on her shoulder to hold her back. “Marinette, what I wanted to say is,” I swallowed before finishing the sentence, “stop being so hard on yourself. We handled that situation pretty well, okay? Now, let’s focus on finding the peacock Miraculous.” She took a deep breath and eventually agreed, thanking me with an exhausted smile. Tikki, who had stuck her head out of the collar of Mari’s blouse, winked at me encouragingly.

Marinette and I moved on and headed to Master Fu’s apartment to seek his advice first. “Ah, Ladybug and Chat Noir, good to see you,” our great guardian welcomed us warmly. We took a seat and he provided us with the information we needed to continue our mission. Meanwhile, Plagg was busy savoring his cheese. Ignoring the noise my kwami did while munching on his Camembert, I told Master Fu and Marinette the thoughts that had come to my mind earlier that day. “What I initially thought of were the only two people who we know that could possibly know about the Miraculous’ existence,” I suggested. “These would be our former classmate Lila, who saw the book and its contents about fourteen years ago, or…,” I trailed off. “You’re mother,” Marinette finished my sentence with a firm voice and nodded. I was surprised she didn’t make an annoyed face at the mention of Lila, who Mari really couldn’t stand since the first day the girl showed up at our school. Apparently, the fact that my mother could be the one behind all this seemed serious enough to her that she pushed aside the thought of me still remembering the girl who pretended to be Volpina’s descendant. Master Fu listened to our theories patiently. Then he cleared his throat and reminded us that Lila neither had the real Miraculous nor did she know that a kwami was needed for a transformation. It was then that the realization hit me, “You think my mother might have the peacock kwami?” Marinette shrugged and added, “Well, there might have been one or two occasions when Tikki needed to open a locker for me… so there might also be the possibility of a kwami opening Master Fu’s safe, right?” Master Fu’s unpleased facial expression proved that she had a point and I remembered the time when Plagg just went through the door of my father’s safe and opened it without thinking twice. “The most important hint for you,” Master Fu pulled me back from my pondering with his words, “is to look out for conspicuous looking feathers.” Feathers? Now that was going to be more difficult of a mission as I thought it would be.

* * *

As soon as we knew what we had to do, Mari and I transformed and left to go on patrol. Although it didn’t take long for us to transform, I savored the feeling of the suit smoothly covering my skin during the transformation. Since we had defeated my father or rather his alter ego Hawk Moth, we don’t get to show up as Ladybug and Chat Noir that often anymore. I know that this should actually be a good sign, but I must admit I missed being the superhero in a catsuit, who could say and do whatever he wanted whenever he wanted. I missed the large black mask that covered half of my face, purr-otecting me from curious glances of people surrounding me. Did Mari feel the same way? Did she enjoy being Ladybug as much as I enjoyed being Chat Noir? Or did it bug her to jump into that role again? We’ve never really talked about it because there hasn’t been a reason to do so. But seeing her standing right beside me, wearing that red suit and mask, brought back nostalgic feelings.

Back in the street, the two of us looked for any clues that could lead us in the right direction. I was a bit worried because we had already waited for several hours, before taking up the chase after the thief. But we didn’t have any other choice; we just weren’t as spontaneous as we were as teenagers. I couldn’t just leave the children at home and Mari couldn’t leave work early. Even though my father knows about our superhero duties, he still wouldn’t allow one of his employees to leave their work half-done. It would have to be a serious emergency, one that was life-threatening. And since this case didn’t necessarily count as life-threatening, Mari didn’t want to put her job at risk. Therefore, we had to work with what we could find now. At least, it wasn’t dark outside yet. The summer sun would still provide us with enough light for a few more hours to search for clues. Ladybug and I were taking a few steps to the left and then to the right, scanning the area in fur-ont of Master Fu’s apartment for anything that might have looked suspicious. Suddenly, I felt a slight tickle in my nose and tried to get rid of it. Eventually, I couldn’t help sneezing. “Don’t tell me you caught a cold, my kitty?” Ladybug looked at me with a worried expression. “Ah no,” I replied and sneezed again, “don’t be kitten! I guess it might just be my allergy to feathers.” Right then, we spotted a greenish feather lying on the floor just a few meters away from us. This had to be a peacock feather. “Let’s go,” Ladybug summoned, so we went to follow the trace of feathers scattered across the street, every few meters there was another. Some weren’t as eye-catching as they might have been before because they had been run over by a car, but they still led us in a certain direction.


	3. A Purr-fect Reunion - Pt. 3

When it became clear where we were eventually headed, I got a weird feline in my stomach. I didn’t want to believe it was true. Ladybug didn’t seem less startled, when the feathers accumulated in front of my father’s mansion, the house I grew up in. The possibility that my father could’ve had something to do with the disappearance of the peacock Miraculous made my heart sink. Ladybug was aware of my disappointment and took me by the hand, glancing up at me with her big blue eyes. “Adrien, it’s probably not what you think it looks like,” she tried to put me at ease, “I have faith that your father hasn’t been working behind our back. I believe in his trust in both of us.” Then she reached down for her yo-yo, flipped it open, and determinedly dialed a number.

“Hello Mr. Agreste, this is Marinette,” she spoke into her round shiny gadget. Hearing this made me instantly pull at my hair. “What in the world are you doing?” I gasped, but she gave me a sign to be patient. She finished the phone call and turned to me with a smirk on her lips. “Your father is still at the boutique. There’s no way he could’ve been behind the Miraculous theft,” she explained to me. The certainty in her voice made me let out a sigh of relief. I admired her faith in the good side of people, even my father, and I was glad she could convince me of him not having turned evil again. Knowing about Gabriel Agreste’s dark past had definitely left its scars on our father-son relationship.

Ladybug and I purr-oceeded our work and made our way into the mansion. Fortunately, I knew the code for the door at the entrance, so we could get in easily. As it was Friday evening, Natalie and the “Gorilla” had already gone home by the time we arrived there. My Lady and I tiptoed through the house and carefully looked out for the thief that was supposedly hiding in the house. Somehow I felt that we weren’t too far behind because the burglar surely had had to wait for my father’s employees to leave the building in order not to be discovered. But what was he or she trying to find here? Ladybug nudged me and pointed at the slightly opened door of my father’s office where a stream of light flooded through the door crack.

* * *

“Do you think they’re going to attack us?” I whispered to my companion, while we slowly approached the room where the light came from. The rest of the house wasn’t exactly dark; the last rays of sunlight were still shining through the windows, but still you would need to switch on the light to see everything properly. Thanks to my night vision, the lack of light wasn’t a problem for us. “Hold your whiskers. But we should at least be ready to defend ourselves,” Ladybug replied to my question. We were only one more step apart from the door and I pulled her behind me. I didn’t want her to catch the first blow in case of emergency. Then I reached out for the door, holding my staff in my other hand and preparing myself for a possible fight. Only a few more centimeters, then we’d be able to enter the room…

“What was that?” Ladybug mumbled from behind me. There was a noise coming through the door crack. I perked my cat ears to make out the source of the sound. It certainly was the voice of a woman, a rather familiar voice, come to think of it. But my mind wasn’t fast enough to remember whose voice it could be. And what noise was she making? Was it a scream, a hysterical laugh? No, it was more like a… sob? I threw a glance at my wife, but she seemed as startled as I was. Eventually, I took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

I wasn’t prepared for what I saw there: A woman was crouched on the floor in front of my father’s opened but empty safe. We could only see her from behind, but it was obvious she had buried her face into both her hands, her long blonde hair covering most of her back. Beside her, a blue hand fan was lying on the floor, the peacock Miraculous! At the height of the woman’s head, a tiny blueish creature was floating in front of her. It was the first time that I saw the kwami that belonged to that Miraculous. My eyes wandered back to the woman. Her Miraculous must have run out after she used her power – whatever it was – to make her way into the house. She was sitting there, completely unprotected, in her civilian form. This woman strongly reminded me of someone I had been looking for half of my life, even though I had tried to ignore the possibility that she could be the Miraculous thief. I didn’t recognize my own voice, when I finally spoke, “Maman?”

* * *

She turned around at the sound of my voice. I wasn’t sure if she recognized it. After all, it had been about fifteen years since she disappeared and I was a grown man now with a much deeper voice. Not to mention the catsuit and the mask which were hiding my real identity. The woman, who eventually turned out to be my long lost mother, was probably just appalled by one of Paris’ superheroes calling her ‘Maman’. She wiped away the tears on her face with the sleeve of her blouse and squinted at me, trying to make out who I was behind that mask. I didn’t think it through, but I dared to release my transformation, causing Plagg to come flying out of my ring and leaving Ladybug with a startled expression. “Maman, it’s… me,” I said and took a few steps towards the woman who has clearly aged since the last time I saw her. Her eyes widened as I reduced the distance between the two of us. “Adrien, be careful,” Ladybug whispered, still not sure whether we could trust my mother. The woman’s eyes were wandering from me to Ladybug and back to me. She must have heard my companion’s words, as her face lit up and she finally found her voice again. “A-… Adrien? You… you are Adrien?” she asked, the words weakly coming out of her mouth, barely audible. I felt my eyes tear up and I forgot all about the Miraculous theft and the question what my mother was actually planning to do. The fact that she was still alive overwhelmed me and seeing her again after all these years made my knees go weak. I crouched down beside her and pulled her into my arms, allowing the tears that welled up in my eyes to run down my cheeks. Maman first stiffened at the touch, but then she returned the hug, understanding how relieved I was to have her back again. From the corner of my eye, a short flash indicated that Marinette had detransformed as well, apparently convinced that we were both out of danger.

* * *

Having gotten a hold of ourselves again, Mari and I could finally have an actual conversation with my mother. We were still sitting on the cold floor of my father’s office, but we didn’t mind. “I’m sorry, Adrien,” Maman repeated over and over again, remorseful of what she made me go through. I just shook my head, indicating that it was going to be alright. She told us what had happened fifteen years ago, when she disappeared. I knew that she hadn’t left my father and me voluntarily. Now it turned out she had been held hostage by her enemy, a man who called himself “The Cobra”. My mother, who used to be a Miraculous holder just like I was now, was midst in a fight against Cobra’s henchmen, when she lost her Miraculous, the peacock-like fan. She was defenseless without her powers and they took her with them. Eventually, she became Cobra’s prisoner. She would’ve been able to be released, had she told him the secrets of the Miraculouses, but she remained loyal to her guardian and the other Miraculous holders. Only her kwami stayed by her side, but hid itself from the enemy, so he wouldn’t take advantage of the magical creature.

It took some time for me to digest all the information. So there was someone out there even more evil than Hawk Moth once was? My father had had no idea of Miraculouses until the day of my mother’s disappearance. He hadn’t known about the meaning behind his wife’s fan, but once he had found it back then, he put it into the safe in his office. It was the only thing that was left of his beloved wife. A few weeks after my mother was gone, my father changed. I noticed this as a teenager; I was only fourteen years old back then. When Ladybug and I found out about him being Hawk Moth, he confessed to us. My father had found the butterfly Miraculous, just the way I found my Miraculous and my feline kwami. Apparently, Master Fu wanted him to use his powers to rescue his wife, but he misunderstood it completely and abused the powers of his Miraculous and his kwami Nooroo. This is where Marinette became Ladybug and I turned into Chat Noir. Master Fu knew about Hawk Moth’s identity all along, but he was faithful we’d be able to bring him back to the good side. Sometimes, I wonder whether this was the reason why I was chosen to be Chat Noir… because I am the son of the Miraculous holder that went missing and the one who chose the wrong path. My father should never have come across the sacred book that my mother kept in her drawers. If he hadn’t learned about the absolute power of Ladybug’s and my Miraculouses, he wouldn’t even have considered misusing his powers to get ours.

* * *

The three of us were still sitting on the floor, but I was lost in thoughts, until Marinette pulled me back to reality. “Mon chéri, are you alright?” she asked carefully and put her hand on my shoulder. Her blue shiny eyes were filled with concern, when I turned to face her. “It’s nothing,” I tried to play it down to appear paw-sitive again and swallowed. I encouraged my mother to continue her explanations by fixing my gaze on her and nodding silently. She quickly understood, then went on and answered the question that had been lingering on my mind since the moment Ladybug and I saw her in my father’s office tonight. “Cobra released me under the condition that I bring him the book and if possible also your two Miraculouses,” she motioned to Marinette and me, “He heard about it when he saw the coverage about Hawk Moth back then.” Something still didn’t make sense to me, so I interrupted her, “But that was fourteen years ago. Why didn’t he send you to get the book earlier?” Her lips turned into a sad smile; she must have seen this question coming. “Cobra never really had a plan of what use I could be to him without my powers. Paoon was able to hide herself from him and his underlings, but a few days ago, we weren’t careful enough and Cobra saw her,” she explained.

For once, Marinette spoke up, “Wait a moment. Who is Paoon?” Chuckling at Mari’s confusion, my mother held out her hand and her kwami floated over to sit down in her palm. “She’s my kwami,” Maman introduced us to the tiny creature, “Without her, I wouldn’t have been able to make it through the past years. But when Cobra found out that she was still there, he assumed I could use my powers to bring him the book and there was no way I could disobey.” Her expression turned serious again. Tikki and Plagg, who had been resting on Marinette and my shoulders, were listening thoroughly and widened their eyes when they learned about what had happened. I glanced over at my wife, who had grown silent again, careful not to interfere between a mother and her son who saw each other for the first time in over a decade. Taking a deep breath, I let all the information I learned that evening run through my head again. I put the pieces together and they finally made sense. Of course, my mother had needed her Miraculous in order to transform again. I also understood why she wouldn’t want to get anyone else involved in this, not even Master Fu, which doesn’t mean I ap-purr-ove of her decision. As Cobra apparently didn’t have any superpowers we could’ve been afraid of, I believed we’d be able to defeat him. Faithfully, I stood up from the floor and said, “Don’t worry, Ladybug and Chat Noir will take care of it.” Mari nodded at my paw-sitive words and smiled. Then I held out my hand for my mother and added with a warm smile, “Come Maman, it’s time for you to meet Father and your meow-raculous grandchildren.”


End file.
